Category Archives: Personal

This week we laid my dear Aunt Joan to rest – she was 94 years old and had been healthy most of her life. Her time had come but I feel for her husband who is still alive – they would have been married for 70 years this April!!!

However, it was lovely on Monday to go back to my cousin’s after the ceremony and see the family for a change as we hardly ever meet up. Both my kids came to support which was great.

I also have very positive news musicwise as me and my little band have been offered a great slot at the Bath Fringe Festival on May 28th at the Old Theatre Royal in Bath. We’re going to do a set of my music followed by a set of flamenco music by my persussionist and his band Ganesha and Co. They are brilliant and I’m really looking forward to the whole thing. It will mean a lot of practicing and promotion but our first really proper gig as a band.

This coming week we’re off boating to move a barge from Ramsgate back to London which will be brilliant as long as the weather’s ok as it can be very choppy in a barge navigating round by Margate etc.

Hello all – sorry it’s been so long since I’ve updated here. We’ve had a great summer with lots of drumming and music and travelling around in our camper van.

We’ve successfully raised £1000 for Kartong 10th anniversary though we’ve had to postpone the big celebrations in Gambia till 2016 because of fears about Ebola although a festival will still go ahead in February 2015.

We’ve just had fun doing our ICC certificates for boathandling and our VHS radio courses so that we are better qualified for moving barges about and know what to do if there was any kind of emergency!

The grandchildren are well and we are happy. I’m hoping to help run a Peace Education Programme in Bristol over the winter and also have a music gig on Dec 17th at Halo Bar if you’re in Bristol come and say hi.

I really do miss the interaction that used to happen here though most people are at FB it’s not really the same.

So much has happened that I don’t even know where to start. I think I’ll have to leave out most of the last couple of months. It’s been sad times with the loss of dear friends’ son and various other things.

Now getting on with life again. I’m playing with two percussion groups and tonight we have a gig in Bristol. I’ve been giving my own music a bit of a rest after all the hype and hard work of launching the second album!

Peter and I had a lovely anniversary in Wales – we went to Cardigan for a couple of nights and went to a beautiful concert there of Seckou Keita with Catrin Finch – really wonderful. I also had a weekend in Barcelona seeing Prem Rawat speak and sight-seeing and yesterday I went with my mum to see the Matthew Bourne Swan Lake in Bristol which was stunning!

We’re working hard on an Arts Council bid for funding for a sabar drumming project in Gambia and UK and also fundraising for the 10th Anniversary Kartong Festival in February 2015. More of that in a future post!

So…..this is just a quick post so you know I’m still around – will post some photos and other news soon.

On other things, my knee is still bad but slowly improving. I had an MRI scan which shows extensive tearing to my medial collatoral ligament so am now doing painful rehab exercises. The physio has said it could be another two m0nths before I can go back to tennis! What a drag.

At home we have extensive work going on converting two small bedrooms into one lovely big room with a shower room in the corner. Will be brilliant when finished but noisy and dusty in the meantime.

Going back to Peter’s amazing story of finding his family in Russia and Ukraine, we got the sad news yesterday that his Uncle Peter died a couple of days ago, so he didn’t quite make 90. We are so pleased though that he had the chance to meet Peter and his brother before he died – both for them and him this was an amazing experience. Sad that the rest of the family didn’t meet him but at least we’re all in touch now with younger members of the family too.

Well after more than six weeks I’m still really quite disabled by my torn ligaments in my knee and it’s still very painful. However, I can still play music and do things round the house albeit much slower than normal!

Tomorrow we have builders arriving to start work on taking down a stud wall between two small rooms in our house and making it into one lovely big room with a shower room. Plus knocking a new back door out through the utility room to save clumping mud and muck through the house. It will be noisy, dirty and chaotic for a couple of weeks but hopefully will be worth it all in the end!

I’m practicing for our gig on February 18th at Halo Bar and also I’m being interviewed for BCFM (Bristol Community Radio) next Monday. Work in the studio is interesting now, having reached the mixing and mastering part of the album so still hoping for a release in March/April.

Anyway, that’s my news for now – if you’re in Bristol come and see us play on Feb 18th!

Had a really good family Christmas this year (I should say last year now shouldn’t I?). The only down side was that I managed to fall down the stairs on December the 19th and really sprain my right knee.

It was all due to a mad magpie that is intent on killing itself throwing itself repeatedly at my kitchen window. I presume he sees his reflection and thinks he’s his own rival then keeps coming back to check he’s frightened himself off! I was rushing around like you do at Christmas time – I’d stripped beds ready to re-make for people coming to stay and chucked the washing down the stairs rather than take it down. Suddenly I heard that pesky magpie banging the downstairs window – I rushed down to shoo him off, forgot the washing, caught my foot in the sheets and there you have it – a horrible accident. My knee twisted right under me and I felt something inside go ‘twang’ and here I am nearly 3 weeks on hobbling around like an old lady. It is improving now thankfully with the help of a good chiropracter.

Apart from that, what a lovely time we had. My daughter and her little girl came to stay for the best part of a week, my son joined us for a few days then P’s family and children came for the weekend after Christmas. We had a great time playing with the children with a fantastic toy called Geomag – we built the Eifel tower together and ate lovely food!

Christmas Lunch At Home

Building The Eifel Tower!

We had a quiet new year with neighbours over the road and generally relaxed.

This year (can’t believe it’s 2013 already) I’ll release and launch my second album which is nearly finished, we’re planning a trip to Russia and Ukraine in July to visit P’s newly found family, legalise our marriage on May 1st at the registry office (in private as we’ve already done our wonderful handfasting ceremony), various drumming things planned as usual and hopefully a first trip to Oz for P in the autumn or spring next year.

I need to overcome my musical lethargy – I haven’t written a new song in ages but it seems to be something that can’t be forced and at least I’m practicing and recording the old songs and getting tracks recorded that weren’t on the first album!

I came to my blog yesterday in the mood to post something and found it blacked out to support the Wiki objection to the PIPA and SOPA acts in the USA. Although I agree that online piracy isn’t a good thing the terms of these acts are much too far-reaching and would have a terrible effect on the internet Avaaz petition.

Meanwhile, my lovely man has gone off to Africa to start preparations for the Kartong Festival in the Gambia and I’ll be joining him later – so missing him like crazy but getting on with things. My son’s in India at the same time and my sisters live in Australia so it feels like half my loved ones are all spread out around the world!

I had a frustrating day in the studio yesterday trying to record some nice flute parts on a track and I just couldn’t get it right. It goes like that sometimes – the bits you think would be easy take ages and other bit you think will take ages go easily! Plus I’m feeling a bit off colour, slightly virusish (if that’s a word) and that doesn’t help.

I’m still really enjoying being in Bristol though, being able to see my mum and friends regularly as well as regular practices with Paddy, getting on with all my music projects and going to see other musicians playing locally.

We’ve had such a lovely Christmas this year. My dear daughter, husband and grand-daughter came to stay as did one of my nephews.

Little L is now 3 year’s old and it was the first Christmas that she really understood more about all the family gathering together to share Chrismas time, food and presents. Even though my son couldn’t be here as he’s currently in India, he Skyped so we were able to see him and chat with him through the wonder of modern technology. My mum and her partner came for the day as well and we had a wonderful time. On Boxing Day, we had a small evening Open House with neighbours and friends and that was really fun too – especially as a couple of friends came who I hadn’t seen in many years.

Everyone’s left now and the house seems very quiet and peaceful after all the energy of the last few days so I shall savour my own space now.

I’m so happy to be back in my own home again looking forward to an exciting 2012.

We’ve been back in Bristol now for a few weeks and it’s as if I never left. It’s funny whatever it is that makes a place feel like “home” but Bristol has that magic for me.

It’s a city like any other with all the good and bad that a city offers but it has the extra dimension of being brilliant for musicians – tons of gigs at every end of the scale from open mics to concerts. Plus it has so much green space and parks and is easy to drive out of into the countryside in minutes.

On Saturday we went to Halesowen near Birmingham to support a sabar drumming workshop (we play the chols which are the bass drums – similar to the use of dunduns with djembe). Here’s a link to a video of one of the tracks the group was learning.

If you go out in Bristol without a plan you can guarantee to find something amazing or interesting to do. This weekend was Brisfest and we went down to the docks on Sunday afternoon and started walking about. We walked all along the river Avon back towards the Centre – we saw amazing Dragon boat racing, we popped into the new M-shed Museum of Bristol (completely free), from the roof terrace we watched down across the river and could hear the music from the festival across the way and had a great day out. In the evening we went to see our friend’s band Boxcar Aldous Huxley (as whacky as their name).

I’ve caught up with friends, been out to dinner, had friends round to dinner, seen my mum had people to stay and twice a week been back in the studio.

I’d been wanting to start my second album for the last couple of years but just couldn’t seem to motivate myself. I’m one of those people who’s a hundred times more productive when I’m busy and haven’t got time for anything – time seems to stretch and I get so much more done. Don’t ask me why or how but it’s just the way I am!!

I even feel like writing my blog again – wow!! Not to mention playing tennis twice a week again.